This is one of those things that clicks immediately: A bike made of springy, light, sustainable, and abundant bamboo. The beauty up top is by Craig Calfee, who's been making them since 2005. I'd heard of these before but I've never tried one, so I was excited to read this piece in today's Guardian, which gives a pretty vivid description of what if feels like to ride:When you played with a bamboo cane as a child, and swished it through the air, it felt like energy incarnate. That's a little how this bike feels to ride. When I first sprint off, nothing happens for a split second, just like when you swish that bamboo cane. Then, almost before you've noticed, it springs ahead as though it has more energy than you've put in. It rivals carbon, steel, anything I've ridden. It's also comfortable. But not like a big, heavy commuter bike with large, bouncy tires. It just soaks up the bumps, with no lolling around.Sounds pretty great. And yes, we know that bamboo isn't always sustainably harvested, but it can be. It is robust and it grows incredibly quickly (it took over my backyard as a kid-like, literally took it over), so there's no reason we can't do this right. Right now, the bikes are kind of pricey, but if they ever were to go mainstream that price would likely drop. Sounds like a win-win to us.Has anyone else ridden one? Do you agree with Matthew Sparkes's description?
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